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imported post

I'm a resident of York County. A recent gun control measure that was being considered before the Board of Supervisors caused me to take a second look into the county code. I came across something that might be of interest:

(a) Firearms. No person shall use, carry or possess firearms of any description, or air rifles, spring guns, bows and arrows, slings, or any other forms of weapons potentially inimical to wildlife or dangerous to human safety, or any instrument that can be loaded with and fire blank cartridges, without a permit from the appropriate governing official. Shooting into public areas from beyond public area boundaries is also forbidden. Authorized law enforcement officials, however, may carry and discharge firearms in the performance of their official duties.

(b) Hunting. The hunting, killing, wounding, frightening, capturing, trapping, or attempting to kill, wound, frighten or capture at any time of any wildlife is prohibited, except when it is necessary to prevent injury to persons, or if deemed necessary by the appropriate governing official for game management purposes.

Of concern to me is the first sentence. My take is that CC is covered by anyone with a CHP via 18.2 308 of the code of Virginia, however to my knowledge OC is not addressed by the code of Virginia and therefore has no applicable 'appropriate governing official'.

Is there anything I ammissing? Any thoughts on how this might affect O.C.?

imported post

I initially thought this code pertained to hunting or hunting grounds. But after reviewing the rest of the chapter, this code is effective county wide and is void. If you feel like taking the lead on this, I would advise you to attend a county supervisory meeting and bring this to their attention (politely) and inform them they need to amend this section of code to be in compliance with Virginia law § 15.2-915. Let us know how things go if you take this up.

Edit: I am sending an email to the Board of Supervisors for York County asking them to amend the code.

It has been brought to my attention that York County has one invalid ordinance on its books:

Sec. 17-56. Wildlife protected; hunting.

(a) Firearms. No person shall use, carry or possess firearms of any description, or air rifles, spring guns, bows and arrows, slings, or any other forms of weapons potentially inimical to wildlife or dangerous to human safety, or any instrument that can be loaded with and fire blank cartridges, without a permit from the appropriate governing official. Shooting into public areas from beyond public area boundaries is also forbidden. Authorized law enforcement officials, however, may carry and discharge firearms in the performance of their official duties.
(b) Hunting. The hunting, killing, wounding, frightening, capturing, trapping, or attempting to kill, wound, frighten or capture at any time of any wildlife is prohibited, except when it is necessary to prevent injury to persons, or if deemed necessary by the appropriate governing official for game management purposes.

This ordinance has been invalid since July 1, 2004 as Virginia has had full statewide preemption laws in place since then. The preemption code section is 15.2-915 and reads:

§ 15.2-915. Control of firearms; applicability to authorities and local governmental agencies.

A. No locality shall adopt or enforce any ordinance, resolution or motion, as permitted by § 15.2-1425, and no agent of such locality shall take any administrative action, governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, storage or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof other than those expressly authorized by statute. For purposes of this section, a statute that does not refer to firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof, shall not be construed to provide express authorization.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit a locality from adopting workplace rules relating to terms and conditions of employment of the workforce. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101 from acting within the scope of his duties.

The provisions of this section applicable to a locality shall also apply to any authority or to a local governmental entity, including a department or agency, but not including any local or regional jail or juvenile detention facility.
B. Any local ordinance, resolution or motion adopted prior to the effective date of this act governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof, other than those expressly authorized by statute, is invalid.
(1987, c. 629, § 15.1-29.15; 1988, c. 392; 1997, cc. 550, 587; 2002, c. 484; 2003, c. 943; 2004, cc. 837, 923.)York County needs to make its ordinance comply with Virginia law. To do this, Sec. 17-56 needs to be updated to reflect Virginia's current state code and should to be modified to remove any references to the possession or carry of "firearms" and the phrase "or any instrument that can be loaded with and fire blank cartridges" should be struck. from the ordinance. (A firearm has the ability to load or fire blank cartridges)

Your prompt attention to this matter is appreciated. If you could let me know when Board of Supervisors is taking up this matter, I thank you in advance.

Example 1... Can only happen with you place it in very close to the body. It is highly unlikely to be harmed from a distance.

Example 2...A freak accident. The gun was used to fire a round that lodged in the barrel. The blank then expelled it out.

Keeping in mind that out of all the blank rounds fired over time... there are only these two incidents listed killing actors. I believe plane crashes have killed far more actors so should planes be banned too?